The Astute Observations of Professor I Robinson
by Half-a-bottle-Pepsi
Summary: Mythology professor, meet Reality. Where the reality is the existence of superheroes, mythological beings, and being kidnapped by a shady government organization.
1. Kidnapped

The first thing Illayana noticed when she gained consciousness (awoke wasn't exactly the right term), even before she opened her eyes, was that she was definitely _not_ in her bed. However, she couldn't think of where else she could be. There was no crick in her neck to indicate that she'd fallen asleep on the couch or at her desk as she sometimes did, but there was nowhere else she could have nodded off if she wasn't in the comfort of her own home.

Her heart sped up at this realization. She was terrified. Where was she? Why wasn't she at home?

Slowly, cautiously, Illayana opened her eyes. Sitting up, she observed that she was in a small bed in a room that consisted entirely of white and gray. There was a small night table, and a small chest of drawers – everything about the room seemed small. She'd never been claustrophobic, but the utter _smallness_ of everything was making her feel sick.

It was all neat and tidy, excluding the crumpled sheets of the bed, making her feel even more out of place – Illayana was notoriously (to those who knew her) disorganized. That was part of the reason she worked so well with mythology. She was a professor of it at the local community college. There was no part of mythology that was at all very organized. Time lines and characters were often mixed up, and there were likely a million and one different versions of the same legend. They shared a wonderful bond of disorganized order (as opposed to organized Chaos, she supposed) and that was just how she liked it.

However, for all her disorganized order and knowledge of mythology, she could not figure out why someone would go through all the trouble – or maybe it wasn't that much trouble at all, she thought fearfully – to _kidnap_ her. She was a professor of mythology at a small college, she didn't have any big connections, she hadn't done anything particularly noticeable in her life. _Where was she?_

Illayana's breath hitched as she realized that there was no _door._ She tried to take a deep breath, to stave off the oncoming panic attack, but it was impossible. Gasping desperately, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and placed her head between her knees. Illayana almost didn't notice the footsteps, or the _whoosh_ of a door like one in a science fiction movie, or the hand that started rubbing her back.

"It's okay," a somewhat familiar voice soothed. She hadn't heard that voice in years.

"Phil?" Illayana asked, struggling for her breath. She looked up to see the man himself nodding, his face neutral but smiling slightly. He was wearing a suit and a badge that had a blocky eagle insignia stamped onto it and the letters S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Illayana Robinson. It's been a while."

"A long while," she agreed, finally catching her breath. "But on to the more pressing problem . . . where _am_ I?"

So Illayana learned about SHIELD and its workings. And that Phil was a secret agent (although those weren't his exact words . . . not by a long shot).

"_Why_? I'm not a superhero. I'm a _professor. _Of_ mythology. _Why could you possibly want me here?"

"We are attempting to bring in the best of the best. Given your connections to a Doctor Bruce Banner-"

"Bruce!" she yelped. "You leave him out of this! He left for a reason."

"I'm afraid that it is necessary for the survival of mankind, Illayana," Phil said dryly.

"_Survival of_ . . . what? What is going on here that you're not telling me?"

Well, wasn't this just a stressful day. By the end of Phil's explanation, including should-be-long-dead supersoldiers, gods out of Norse mythology (though that was more her area of expertise), and a stolen cube of enormous power, Illayana wasn't sure whether she was getting a migraine or another panic attack. Maybe both. What did this have to do with Bruce?

"We're bringing Doctor Banner in to help look for the Cube. We thought that he may be more comfortable with an old friend on board."

"You mean you thought you could use me as leverage," Illayana corrected, feeling the rage bubbling inside her. "A bribe of sorts. How could you, Phil?"

"It wasn't my idea," he admitted, "but I didn't know until you got here. They should be arriving within a few hours, and someone will be along to take you to the lab to meet him." Then he stood.

"Wait wait wait, where are you going?" Illayana scrambled to stand too, as Phil walked over to a blank patch of wall that _whoosh_ed open – well that explained the no-door-problem – and walked through it. It shut behind him, just as she rushed over, and she slumped against the wall. Illayana looked around the small room and sighed, squeezing her eyes shut. "At least I get to see Bruce again," she murmured to herself, and while that lifted her spirits slightly, it didn't really make anything about this better.


	2. Reminiscing and Seeing Him Again

True to Phil's word, another suit showed up later on. Illayana couldn't tell how much later on – there wasn't a clock in the room and she didn't have a watch – but it must have been a long time. Her vision had long gone fuzzy from alternating between staring at the wall and the inside of her eyelids. She had already inspected the chest of drawers, but had decided, out of spite, that there was no way in _hell_ she was wearing whatever clothing was in there. She was just fine in her own clothes, even if they were wrinkled. There was also a pair of shoes underneath the bed, and they had taken the purple pumps she wore to work, "so barefoot it is!"

The suit offered no name, just beckoned her to follow, and she, albeit reluctantly, did. Anything to get out of that awful room. The rest of – wherever they were – wasn't all that much better, though. The hallways were small, and entirely gray, both lighter and darker shades. The lab _was _better, though it was still all white.

Illayana ran her hand across the equipment, much of which was way beyond anything she'd ever seen, and felt a breath of nostalgia brush over her. Bruce would be in his element here, she knew. He was always so damn smart, and she used to feel a little useless, worthless, in comparison – though that was something she felt often, back then, and sometimes even without reason.

But, Illayana supposed, sitting on a stool and bringing her knees to her chest in a way that had her bare heels precariously perched on the edge, she would be seeing him soon. After the Hulk, after he inadvertently caused all that damage, he'd run away. He'd hadn't even said goodbye, or left any way to contact him. He hadn't written to anyone, either, even (or maybe especially?) _Betty_.

Illayana felt a little sick thinking about Betty. After all, it was General Thaddeus Ross, Betty's father, who constantly hunted down her friend. It wasn't exactly Betty's fault, but she found herself distrusting of the woman, and even felt a sort of vindictive pleasure when she found that Bruce hadn't contacted her either.

A little guilt wormed its way through her about that, but she pushed it away. Betty hadn't even spoken to her more than a handful of times, even when Bruce was still around to be the bridge between the two. As Betty's lover and Illayana's friend, Bruce had often tried to find some common ground between them, wanting them to get along.

Even before the Hulk came about, though, Illayana hadn't particularly liked Betty. Maybe because it was somehow Betty's fault that Illayana had stopped seeing Bruce as much, after they started getting closer. Maybe because (_no, stop it, Illayana, don't do this to yourself_) Illayana had had something of a crush on Bruce herself.

Illayana hated thinking about that, though. She had never known if her feelings other than friendship for the man were a sort of hero worship or _real_. They had been friends, but the closer bond and subsequent crush hadn't developed until _after_ he saved her, convinced her that life was worth living. She almost hated herself for it, the not knowing.

But she hadn't hated herself, really, truly hated herself, in a long time.

Illayana hid her face in her knees and waited. She didn't look up when they took off (almost panicking again, because she hadn't been told they were on a _giant fucking aircraft_), she didn't look up when the door _whoosh_ed open again, but she did look up at the disbelieving cry of "Illayana?"

Her head shot up and her legs dropped down, and she almost fell in her haste to get over to her old friend. "Bruce!" He caught her upper arm to keep her steady, inspecting her. Illayana ducked her head, feeling somewhat self-conscious. Her dark hair was tangled, white cami un-tucked from her rumpled gray pencil skirt, her navy button-down wrinkled, and she was barefoot. _So very appealing, _she thought to herself self-deprecatingly.

His face was hard, and he looked like he wanted to say something, but Illayana couldn't help herself. She lunged forward and hugged him tightly, ignoring the way her nose knocked painfully against his chest. Bruce stiffened, but she squeezed harder and he relaxed the slightest bit, allowing one arm to loop loosely around her waist while the other hand came up to her head. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

She opened her mouth to answer, but somebody else beat her to it. "We thought you might be more willing to work with us if you saw a familiar face," said a voice. Illayana looked up to see a woman with short red hair and a black catsuit standing off to the side, her expression just as neutral – if not more – than Phil's had been. She hid herself behind Bruce, trembling slightly. Neutral or not, the air this woman gave off indicated she could kill Illayana in a second. Considering that she worked for the people that kidnapped her, it was very likely. "Someone you trust."

"You – so you," Bruce forced out, beginning to shake, "you _kidnapped_ a _civilian_? You – you…" He couldn't even continue, words out of reach, his head bowed. Illayana saw the signs of rage and reached out to hold his face in her hands.

"Hey, hey," she soothed, standing on her tiptoes and resting her forehead against his. "Calm down. I'm here now, you can't change that. You're good, okay? You're good."

Bruce took a deep, steadying breath. Another. "That's it. You're going to be fine."

"I can see you're already making yourself useful, Miss Robinson," said the woman. Bruce's shoulders stiffened, and again opened his mouth.

"It's _Professor Robinson_," Illayana snapped before he could say anything, turning around tautly. "And I'd kindly thank you to take your leave." The woman nodded, and walked out, looking relaxed and for all the world as if she hadn't just almost driven Bruce to unleashing the Hulk, unintentionally or not.

"And _you_," she started, rounding on Bruce, "I'd like to know where you've been all this time. You left without saying goodbye!" At the stricken, guilty look on his face, she softened. "Alright. Alright. I'm sorry. Just – I missed you."

There it was, that little flare of happiness, at knowing that he was here, he was real. He smiled weakly at her, sending her pulse flying, and started his work.


	3. In Need of Coffee

For some amount of time, all Illayana did was sit there and watch Bruce work. I guess it's not exactly a great time to catch up, huh, she mused to herself, what with the world being in danger and all. It was sort of soothing, though. She hadn't seen Bruce in years, and back before the Hulk she'd often spent time observing him. It was interesting, even if science was far from her best subject.

Though the technology was much beyond what they'd had when she and Bruce had last seen each other, it was just like old times. The nostalgia fluttered over her again.

"What about the college?" Bruce asked after some indefinite amount of time. Illayana started from the abrupt break in the silence, which up until then had only been filled by the tapping of his fingers against the screen and both of their soft breathing, then flushed. She felt like an idiot for not thinking of that before. There was plenty of time to ask about the story for her absence, yet instead she spent the whole time reminiscing about her friendship with the man she knew she would see!

Quickly, Illayana arranged her face into a mask of bravado and waved her hand. "What's the worst they can do, fire me? I'm sure, being a government operation, SHIELD has covered their tracks." Seeing the tightening around his eyes, she hastily backtracked. "I mean, I'm sure they have an excuse for my absence. So I won't have to go job-hunting anytime soon. But what are we talking about me for? You have work to do."

She didn't mention the painful fact that after this work was finished, they would go back to their lives and she, by no choice of her own, would most likely never see him again.

And there she went, reminiscing again. Was that brought on by the return of one of her best friends and possible crush, or was that just a bad habit of hers? She didn't know. Oh, how she hated not knowing some of the most important things about herself. Or was this important?

What she wouldn't do for a coffee.


	4. Drawing and an Arrival

After that, the silence was too much to bear. Illayana did whatever she could to help, copying down equations that Bruce listed off and typing them into different machines, bringing him different gadgets he requested, and above all, keeping up a steady stream of meaningless chatter as she bustled about. Bruce gave her a few somewhat-amused smiles as she rambled nervously, which, although she would never admit it, made her swoon internally.

The floor was cold against her bare feet, and that was what kept her alert as she fought the drooping of her eyelids. Illayana tugged forcefully on her bangs and forced herself to think of everything she knew about the situation, trying to come up with ways that, as a professor in a subject that at this time was too close to reality for comfort, she could do more. She had to admit that, as far as she knew, the Tesseract (and even its other, more mysterious-sounding name, the Cosmic Cube) didn't exist in any legend she had ever heard. Not even the slightest mention.

However, tales of the gods Thor and Loki were not few. Illayana wondered how many of such tales were true, and how many just the children of wild imaginations.

She was just starting to doodle tiny hammers and snakes biting their own tails on the blank papers she had commandeered for herself from who-knows-where (it seemed the aircraft ran almost entirely on electronics – there was hardly any real paper at all, let alone a pen) when footsteps began to echo down the hallway outside the lab. Her brows furrowed, fingers trembled and began sketching of their own accord, as if they had a mind of their own. She couldn't stop. A face, features elegant and refined, uplifted in a haughty, 'I'm better than you' expression, formed underneath her pen. The eyes were sharp and icy, the entire picture unlike anything she'd ever drawn before.

Illayana was no artist; far from it. So this, this was scary, this was surreal, this was . . . _otherworldly_. As soon as the (very eerily detailed) drawing was finished, her grip on the pen slackened and she dropped it, pushing herself away with horror. She stumbled and fell, scrambling back, Bruce watching her in confusion and alarm. The footsteps grew louder, and a platoon of SHIELD agents, heavily armored and decked out in weapons, passed.

The world moved in slow motion. In the center of the group was the man from the picture. Wearing black and green, his ebony hair slicked back, accentuating his angular face, he walked at a leisurely pace, unhurried by the hard-eyed guards around him. He smiled pleasantly at Bruce, who took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose to keep calm. _He looks like he _wants_ to be here, _Illayana thought, nausea rising in the pit of her stomach.

This was Loki. This was the god from legend. This was the man who wanted to bring the world to its knees.

This was a man who _could_ bring the world to its knees.

She rose, scared witless, and hid behind Bruce until the group, Loki in particular, was out of sight, and the footsteps long gone. Bruce turned, looked at her, and gathered her into his arms. "It's okay, you're okay. What happened?" he asked, indicating the moments before the agents and their charge came into view. Illayana shook her head—

-and pointed a shaky finger at the picture that sat, seemingly innocent, on the table she'd been sitting at.


	5. The Meeting and Another Arrival

Bruce was called for a meeting about Loki and Illayana insisted on coming – not that he would have left her alone in this place – but she refused to touch the paper. Even the pen was shunned. At the bridge, where the meeting was taking place, Illayana curled into a chair, quivering like a leaf in the wind. Bruce placed the picture on the table and rested his hands on the back of her chair.

One seat separated Illayana and the red-haired woman from earlier, and three seats the other way was a large blonde man she dimly recognized as Captain America from the old newsreels teachers show their history classes. Phil and another large blonde man in a red cape and armor were speaking quietly over a computer screen. Half-sick and half-relieved, Illayana realized that this must be Thor. Captain America was looking at her curiously, but she stared down at her hands.

There were screens on the table, depicting a giant glass prison which housed Loki (Illayana weakly repressed a shudder) and a control panel with a dark-skinned man in an eyepatch. Phil left, and they watched the conversation between the two.

"_You see how this works? Ant," _the man gestured to Loki, then to the control panel, "_boot."_

"_It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me._"

"_Built for something much stronger than you._"

"_Oh, I've heard. A mindless beast; makes play he's still a man._"

Terror or not, Illayana narrowed her eyes at the screen and reached up where Bruce's arm was resting. She touched it gently, trying to reassure herself that he was there. _Not a mindless beast, _she thought viciously. And she would know, having met the Hulk at one point – although an argument could be made that she had calmed him down slightly before attempting any type of conversation. He wasn't mindless, but the Hulk had the mentality of a very large, very angry four-year-old.

_"Ooh…it burns you, to have come so close,"_ Loki taunted, _"To have the Tesseract; to have power – unlimited power…and for what? A warm light for all mankind to share?"_

He turned toward the camera with a smirk. "_And then to be reminded what real power is."_

"_Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something," _the man shot back, before sweeping away.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce said sarcastically, drawing a faint smile from Illayana, who wrapped her arms around herself. _Like mold, _she thought, remembering the malice in his gaze. It hadn't even been directed at her, and yet she was shivering.

"Loki's going to drag this out," Captain America said. "So, Thor . . . what's his play?"

"He has an army, called the Chitauri," the god of thunder reported gravely. "They're not of Asgard, nor of any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth…in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army. From outer space," the Captain deadpanned incredulously. Illayana found herself thinking the same thing. When had her life turned into a movie?

"So, a portal," Bruce said. "The energy from the Tesseract could be used to create a portal. That would explain why he needed Erik Selvig."

"Selvig?" Thor asked, standing a little straighter.

"He's an astrophysicist," Bruce supplied.

"He's a friend."

"Loki has him under some kind of spell," the woman informed him, adding a somewhat regretful, "along with one of our own."

"I want to know why Loki let us take him," Captain America said. "He's not exactly able to lead an army from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," Bruce piped up, shaking his head, "the guy's a bag of cats; you can _smell_ the crazy on him."

"Have a care how you speak," Thor said frostily. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days," the woman stated bluntly, face still blank. Illayana felt the breath go out of her. _Eighty people, gone_, she thought, _because of one man._

Thor paused for a second. "…he's adopted."

Illayana twitched. Violently. "My friend's adopted," she said, forcing an airy tone. "She found out when she was fifteen. Got very angry, even ran away for a few days. But she went back when she realized that they were still her parents, and they loved her just as much as her siblings. If she had done something against the law, say, steal a knife and try to mug some random person, would that be an excuse for what she did?"

Thor opened his mouth, then closed it. "Norse mythology tells us that Loki is the god of mischief and lies. While they may not be entirely accurate – hell I didn't know there was any accuracy until today – we have no reason as of yet to doubt them. According to what we know about the real Loki, he relies on his words and his sorcery, and, more recently, that scepter. So we can assume that Loki is powerful, and therefore he shouldn't be easy to capture. But you hardly have a scratch between the two of you."

There was a pause, and then Bruce repeated, pacing, "I don't think we should be focusing on him. He was Stuttgart for a reason – the Iridium. What does he need the Iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent."

The new voice came from a doorway to the right. It was a somewhat familiar man with dark hair, wearing a blazer and a Black Sabbath t-shirt. There was a curious circle of glowing blue underneath the shirt, and that was what drove the recognition home: this was Tony Stark. He said one last thing under his breath to Phil, who was followed by another woman, this one brunette, before continuing on into the room.

"With the Iridium, the portal won't collapse in on itself like it did at SHIELD. No hard feelings, Point Break, you got a mean swing," he added, patting Thor's massive upper arm as he passed, sparing him a quick glance. "It also means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants."

Tony swaggered over to the helm and stopped in front of it. There was a moment of silence. "That man is playing galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did." Still quiet. He jerked his head around, then put a hand over one eye and repeated the motion. "How does Fury see these things?" he asked. Illayana wasn't entirely certain he wasn't serious.

"He turns," the brunette said dryly.

"Sounds exhausting," Tony replied. He swiped his fingers over the screens, changing and moving things around with confidence. She wasn't sure if he was allowed to, but this _was_ Tony Stark. He didn't exactly play by the rules.

"The rest of the raw materials," he continued, "Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he still needs is a power source of high energy density. Something to . . . kick-start the Cube." Illayana thought she saw his touch linger unnecessarily on the bottom of one of the screens, but pushed it away. _I must be getting paranoid._

"When did _you_ become an expert in thermo-nuclear astrophysics?" asked the brunette agent.

"Last night," Tony responded with a smile. The brunette raised an eyebrow.

"The packet," he elaborated, "Selvig's notes. The extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" the Captain asked, looking to Tony.

"He'd have to heat the cube to 120 million Kelvin just to break through the cooling barrier," Bruce said, stopping behind Illayana's chair again.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Tony pointed out, turning to face the other genius in the room.

"Well, if he could so that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion to any reactor on the planet."

""Finally! Someone who speaks English!" Tony exclaimed, crossing the distance between them. He held out his hand, ignoring the Captain's muttered, _Is that what just happened?_ "Pleasure to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electronic collisions is unparalleled…"

Illayana smiled encouragingly at Bruce, who hesitated, then took the billionaire's hand.

"…and I'm also a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

"Thanks," Bruce said weakly.

"Doctor Banner is here to track the cube," the man in the eyepatch, who Illayana assumed must be Fury, told Stark, striding towards the table. It was very dramatic, with his cape billowing out behind him. But Illayana was somewhat reminded of Snape from _Harry Potter_. "I was hoping you might join him and his . . . assistant." She started, bristling a bit at the way he said _assistant. _She was a mythology professor, for goodness sake! It wasn't her fault she was dragged into this!

She felt a little guilty thinking that, because at least she got to see Bruce again. Maybe this time, she'd even get to say goodbye.

_No, _she thought firmly, shaking herself. _Stop. Get back to the present._

"I'd start with that stick of his," Captain America was suggesting. "It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon."

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the Cube," Fury agreed. "I'd like to know how Loki turned two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

Illayana stifled a snort, but Thor furrowed his brow. "Monkeys?" he repeated. "I do not understand—"

"I do!" the Captain jumped in eagerly. He flushed when everyone turned to him, stammering embarrassedly. "I – I understood that reference."

"What_ I'd_ like to know," Illayana said, inadvertently saving the Captain from further discomfort, "is how I drew _that_, before I even _saw_ the guy. And when I have _no_ artistic ability to _speak of_." She gestured to the picture on the table, taking care not to touch it.

Captain America, however, had no qualms about picking it up. He inspected it, and said, "It's a perfect likeness . . . and you said you'd never seen him before?"

"I couldn't control my hand," she confessed. "It was scary. And then just as I finished, he walked by with the guards." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the tenseness in Bruce's posture. He was angry, angry that Loki had done something to her, whatever it was. She was the only person on this aircraft that had no real reason to be here; yet she was, because of him. If anything happened to her, she feared Bruce wouldn't be able to control himself from the guilt and rage.

She knew what he was like.

Fury frowned and looked expectantly at Thor. "I have no answer," Thor said apologetically. "I have no understanding of my brother's magic. I was never one for it myself."

The frown deepened, and he took the picture from Captain America and handed it back to Bruce. "See if there's any energy readings on it. This is not our main concern at the moment though, so get back to work." With that, Fury turned and walked over to the brunette and Phil. Illayana rose from her chair and followed Bruce and Tony as they headed back to the lab.

Tony turned to her with a smirk as soon as they got into the now-familiar white room. "And what might be the name of Doctor Banner's pretty assistant?" he asked casually.

Illayana ducked her head. "'m not actually his assistant," she said. "Don't really know anything about science."

"Professor Illayana Robinson, she teaches mythology and its impact on society at her local college," Bruce introduced her with amusement. She waved shyly.

"Tony Stark," he said. "But I'm sure you already knew that."


	6. Offers, Arguments, and Tony's Pep Talk

Illayana watched as Bruce and Tony worked on finding both information about the scepter and the Cube. The picture was left on the backburner, and that was okay with her. "The Gamma rays are definitely consistent with Selvig's report on the Tesseract," Bruce commented. "But it's going to take weeks to process."

Tony opened up a suitcase with a lot more flashy tech, and the few weeks they would need condensed into what Illayana estimated would be a number of hours. "And all I packed was a toothbrush," he dryly, to which she smiled softly, not noticing the look Tony gave her as he laughed.

"You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime. The top ten floors are all R and D. You'd love it. It's candy land," he offered. Illayana smiled wider, nudging Bruce encouragingly.

He ignored it. "Thanks, but I'll pass. The last time I was in New York, I sort of . . . broke . . . Harlem."

"Well," Tony said, waving some sort of stick he'd picked up while he was talking about his tower, "I promise a stress-free environment. No surprises." Then he shocked Bruce with the stick (which must have been some kind of electric rod) and stared expectantly into his eyes.

Bruce yelped, and Illayana opened her mouth to object to that when a "Hey!" came from the doorway. It was Captain America. (She really needed to find out his real name eventually, it was strange calling a real live person that, even if it was in her head.)

"Nothing?" asked Tony, ignoring the Captain. That struck Illayana as a little off. Almost everyone of a certain age down had grown up with Captain America as their hero, Tony's age included. Why would anyone ignore their childhood hero come alive?

"Are you nuts?" questioned the uniformed man, marching inside.

"Jury's still out," said Tony, to which Illayana snickered, barely sparing him a glance before turning back to Bruce. "You really have a lid on it, don't you? What is it? Mellow jazz? Bongo-drums? Huge bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?"

"Funny things are," Tony answered.

Captain America glared at the billionaire. "Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offence, doc." The last part was said to Bruce. Illayana would be offended on his behalf if she didn't know that it was somewhat true. However, she also knew how to calm the big green guy. He had a penchant for songs and fairytales.

"No, it's alright," Bruce said. "I wouldn't have come if I couldn't handle . . . pointy things."

"You're tiptoeing, big man," Tony observed, pulling out a bag of blueberries. "You need to strut."

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark," cut in the Captain, a frown marring his handsome face. Illayana had to admit that all the men in the room were good-looking. This wasn't the time to think about that, though.

"You think I'm not?" Tony laughed. "Why did Fury call us in? Why _now_? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation until I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?" the Captain asked, his brows furrowed.

"Fury's a spy. Captain, he's _the_ spy. His secrets have secrets." Tony popped a few blueberries into his mouth and continued, gesturing to Bruce, "It's bugging him too, isn't it?"

"Uh," said Bruce. He shook his head, waved his arms. "I just want to finish my work…"

"Doctor?" the Captain said.

"A warm light for all mankind. Loki's jab at Fury about the cube…"

Captain America nodded his head. "I heard it."

"Well, I think that was meant for you," Bruce went on, turning to Tony. Tony thrust out his hand, offering some blueberries like a reward. Bruce hesitated, but went ahead and fished some out. He didn't offer any to Illayana, but it was just as well; she couldn't stand blueberries.

"Even if Barton didn't tell him, it was still all over the news."

"Stark Tower? That big ugly—"

As Tony turned to look at him, eyes narrowed, Captain America paused.

"—building in New York?" he finished.

"It's powered by an Arc reactor," explained Bruce, placing a blueberry in his mouth. "A self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for, what, a year?"

"It's just the prototype," dismissed Tony. "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. It's what he's getting at."

"So," Illayana surmised, surprising both the men in the room and herself, "why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"Give the girl a prize!" Tony joked, patting her shoulder and pulling a device out of his pocket. "I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking in to all of SHIELD's secure files."

Captain America's head shot around to face Tony. "I'm sorry, did you just say—"

"JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge," Tony interrupted. "In a few hours, I'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide."

"So I'm not paranoid!" Illayana exclaimed, then flushed. "I-I mean, I thought I saw you stick something down there."

"And yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around," the Captain deadpanned.

Tony rolled his eyes. "An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome."

"I think Loki is trying to wind us up," the Captain said after a pause. "This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them."

"Following is not really my style."

The Captain's features twisted and he laughed, bitterly. "And you're all about style, aren't you?"

Tony pretended to think, then "Of the people in this room," he began, "which one is a) wearing a spangly outfit, and b) not of use?"

The two stared each other down. "Steve," Bruce sighed (_aha! So his name is Steve!_), "tell me none of this smells a little funky to you."

Steve (_wow that was weird_) looked between all three of them. Illayana put her hands up and said, "I'm not entirely up to trusting a weird government organization I didn't know of until this morning, when I woke up here, so, ya know."

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose to keep calm, like he always did, and Tony and Steve gaped at her. After a moment, Steve turned on his heel. "Just find the damn cube," he muttered as he left.

"That's the guy my dad never shut up about?" asked Tony, wandering over to do something on one of the displays. "I'm wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice."

"Rude," Illayana scolded.

"He's not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us."

Illayana had to agree with that. Not just because Loki gave her the creeps either. He was the trickster god, silver-tongued and often ruthlessly cruel. One step ahead. Tony didn't quite disagree, but he did insist that Loki would be defeated.

"I'll read all about it."

"Or you'll be suiting up with the rest of us," Tony said. "Minus you, sugarcube."

Illayana snorted. "Sugarcube?" He shrugged.

"No, you see, I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed," Bruce explained darkly. "Like a nerve. It's a nightmare."

Illayana reached out and slipped her hand into his, attempting to comfort him as Tony began talking.

"You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel trying every second to crawl its way into my heart." He tapped the just barely visible circle of light on his chest, "This stops it. This little circle of light is part of me now. It's not just armor. It's a," he paused to find right words, "terrible privilege."

"But you can control it," said Bruce miserably.

"Because I learnt how."

Bruce shook his head, lifting his hand to change the equations on the screen in front of him, and Illayana tightened her hold on his other hand. "It's different."

"Hey," Tony said sharply. He pushed the windows on the screen away so they just became icons on the side. They stared at each other through the incandescent green. "I read all about your accident. That much Gamma radiation _should _have killed you."

"So you're saying that the Hulk, the . . . other guy, saved my life?" He laughed derisively. "That's nice. That's a nice sentiment. I'll save it for . . . what?"

Tony's eyes flickered from his face to Illayana's, to their linked hands, and back to him. "I guess we'll find out."

Illayana let go.


	7. Bad Feelings and a Bigger Argument

Less than an hour later, Fury stormed into the lab, well . . . furiously. "Stark, what is the meaning of this? You're supposed to find the Cube—"

"We are," Bruce interrupted. "We're tracking the signature. Once it's done we'll have it down to a mile."

"What _is _Phase 2, by the way?" Tony said, sliding a few windows across his screen.

"Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons," announced Steve, storming into the lab with a very-very-large gun and slamming it onto the table. "Sorry, computer was working a little slow for me."

"Rogers," said Fury, "we gathered everything related to the Tesseract, that does not mean we—"

"I'm sorry Nick," cut in Tony, turning his screen around so they could all see. It was filled with images and information that was so tiny Illayana couldn't read it. "What were you lying?"

Steve gave Fury a look of disgust. "I was wrong, Director," he shook his head, "the world hasn't changed a bit."

The red-headed woman and Thor entered the room just then. "Did you know about this, Romanoff?" Bruce asked the woman, gesturing heatedly.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" the Romanoff asked instead.

"I was in Calcutta," Bruce said disparagingly. "I was pretty well removed."

"Loki is manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what, exactly?" Illayana snarled.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," the Romanoff said to Bruce, ignoring her.

"Yes," he agreed, standing. "And I'm not leaving just because suddenly you get a little twitchy." He pulled the monitor toward him, jabbing a finger at the outline of SHIELD's weaponry. "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction!"

Everyone was quiet. Illayana rose from her chair and stood next to Bruce, laying a hand on his shoulder. She had a bad feeling that this was not going to end well. A really bad feeling . . . and not all of it had to do with the argument.

"Because of him."

Fury was pointing at Thor, who frowned, and raised his hand to his chest. "Me?"

"Last year," Fury began, his one-eyed gaze moving to each of them in turn, "Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge that leveled a small town. We learnt that not only are we alone, but that we are hopelessly – _hilariously_ – outgunned."

Thor looked insulted. "My people want nothing but peace with your planet," he insisted.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you," Fury retorted. "And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people that can't be matched; that can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the Cube?" Steve deadpanned.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it. And his allies," Thor said to Fury, stepping closer. The air crackled. "It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."

"A higher form?" Illayana's eyes widened. "What does that—"

"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something," Fury asserted.

"A nuclear deterrent," Tony bit out, "because that always calms things right down." Illayana's throat tightened and she gripped Bruce's arm. He wasn't paying attention, but instinctively grasped her hand in his. She had never done well with mentions of such things. There were bad memories surrounding how detailed her history class had been about the subject. All those people, the horrors they faced, the torture and often agonizing death.

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Fury asked sarcastically.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep in it—" Steve began.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on. How is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?"

"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor hissed, looking disgusted.

Fury turned on him. "Excuse me, do we come to _your _planet and blow stuff up?"

Argument broke out, each individual voice adding to a symphony of harsh words and phrases that were unintelligible to someone standing on the outside. Hell, Illayana was on the _inside_, and she could barely tell what was going on.

"Are you boys really naïve?" Romanoff laughed loudly. "SHIELD monitors potential threats."

Bruce laughed scathingly. "Captain America is a threat?"

"We all are," she replied, nonplussed.

"Obviously, I'm not," Illayana piped up, voice still choked from the mention of the 'nuclear deterrent.'

"You speak of control," mocked Thor, "yet you court chaos."

"That's his ammo, isn't it?" asked Bruce, shaking his head. "I mean . . . what are we? A team? No, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time-bomb."

Fury turned to face him, and his good eye narrowed. "You need," he said slowly, "to step away."

Tony rested a hand on Steve's shoulder. "Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Steve knocked his hand away.

"You know damn well why! Back off."

"Oh," Tony said, narrowing his eyes, "I'm starting to want you to make me."

"Yeah," Steve sneered, stepping forward, "big man in a suit of armor. Take that off and what are you?"

"Genius billionaire playboy philanthropist," Tony replied promptly. Romanoff tilted her head, conceding to the truth of it.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you," Steve continued. "I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play; to lay down on the wire and let the other guy crawl over you-"

"I think I would just cut the wire."

"Always a way out. You might not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

Tony laughed. "A hero, like you? You're a laboratory experiment Rogers, everything special about you came out of a bottle."

"For the love of all that is merciful, please just shut up!" Illayana finally exclaimed, wrenching herself away from Bruce. "You're acting like goddamn children! You're supposed to be professionals, here, why don't you fucking act like it?"

"You," she said, jabbing her finger into Steve's chest, "need to stop. As the old saying goes, never judge a book by its cover. You don't know what Tony fights for. You only know what it looks like."

"And you," she turned to Tony, "need to stop antagonizing him. It's not his fault he hasn't been around for seventy-odd years!"

"If you've got problems with each other, arguing like children is not going to solve anything!"

There was a pause.

"You humans are so petty," Thor laughed, then cast a glance at Illayana, "and tiny."

Illayana collapsed onto a stool with a groan. Why did she even bother? "This is a team," Bruce said cuttingly, the sarcasm razor-sharp. She took in the fact that he wasn't pinching the bridge of his nose. That couldn't be good, it was part of the way he suppressed his anger.

"Agent Romanoff," began Fury, "will you escort Dr. Banner back to his room—"

"Where?" Bruce interrupted. "You rented my room."

Illayana glanced at him, confused, before horrible realization dawned on her. _Loki's cage…_

Fury sighed. "The cell was just a precaution—"

"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't," spat Bruce. "I know. I've tried."

Illayana gasped, and Bruce refused to meet her eyes. "You didn't – please, tell me you didn't," she begged him, rushing over. She grabbed his jaw and forced him to look at her. She saw the truth in his eyes. "Bruce," she whispered. "After everything, you just – how could you?"

When Illayana met Bruce, she was at a bad time in her life. Her mother had just died, and her father was complaining about her choice of major in college. _You're worthless, stupid, _he would spit. _Why else would you waste your time on those foolish stories? _

Already insecure, and somewhat dependent on the opinions of others, Illayana started to see herself that way. Ugly, dumb, worthless. She didn't understand why her friends bothered to put up with her. She didn't know why _she _bothered to put up with her.

Only half a year after they became friends, Illayana tried to kill herself. She walked up to the roof of one of the buildings on campus, stood on the ledge. Wiggled her bare toes, which were just off the edge.

_Please don't_, Bruce had said. _There's so much for you to live for._

She hadn't even noticed him, but he'd followed her up. _Why? _she'd asked. _It hurts._

_It won't always hurt this much, _he said. He'd convinced her that life was worth living.

"I got low," he explained softly, a despairing edge to his voice. It sounded so heartbreakingly similar to when he asked her not to jump years ago, but the difference was that there was barely-concealed anger in it that rose with each word. "I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy _spit it out_. So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good until you dragged me back into this freak show, and put everyone here at risk."

"You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay _calm_?"

A hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her away. From behind Tony, she could see Fury and Romanoff drawing their weapons, and her eyes widened. _What were they – oh, no. Bruce._

Bruce was holding Loki's scepter.

"Doctor Banner," Steve said slowly. "Put the scepter down."

Bruce started and stared down at his hand, which had been clenched around the scepter while it glowed with an eerie brightness. His eyes widened.

All of a sudden, the alarm for the Tesseract went off. "Sorry, kids," Bruce joked feebly, finally putting the scepter down. "Guess you don't get to see my party trick after all." Illayana gave Tony a look of gratitude as Bruce went to read the data.

"You have located the Tesseract?" asked Thor.

"I can get there faster," Tony said.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it," Thor argued.

Steve grabbed Tony's arm. "You're not going alone," he said.

"Are you going to stop me?" Tony laughed.

"Put on the suit," Steve said.

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."

"_Put on the suit_."

"The Tesseract," Bruce started loudly, "it's—"

There was a loud _boom_ and the world went terribly, terribly black.


	8. Illayana and the Hulk

Illayana was roused from her half-conscious state by an almighty roar and immediately thought _oh, no._

She blinked groggily at her surroundings, dark gray, black, steel and more steel. It took her a minute to notice the crushing weight on her waist, and she blinked at that, too. She was trapped in a cage of dust and debris. Another roar ripped through her eardrums, pounding footsteps echoing from somewhere to her left, closer and closer, then leaped over her crumpled form and away. _Oh god, no._

_Bruce._

Illayana scrambled to escape her prison, kicking out as viciously as she could to push a heavy metal beam off her bruising legs. Not even bothering to brush herself off, she dashed off, dizzy and weak, following the sound of destruction. She ducked under pipes and ran up steps, picked through debris and smashed-through walls, weaving through passageway after passageway. Seeing _Romanoff_ of all people trembling against the wall almost stopped her, but then yet another roar sounded, closer this time.

She kept going.

Illayana, determined, proceeded forward and found exactly what she was expecting: a giant, green, enraged Bruce Banner attempting to smash his opponent to pieces. The opponent was Thor, who she was relieved to find was not particularly hurt by her friend, who would be torn up if he found he hurt anyone while in his viridian form, or worse. However, the Hulk was throwing Thor around something fierce and she did not know how to approach him to calm him down.

She gasped as Thor was thrown into the wall behind her. He stood, not even the slightest bit dazed, but his eyes widened when he saw her.

"Maid!" he shouted. "What are you doing here? You have no strength – Banner will tear you apart!" He pushed her behind him and flew towards Bruce.

"I can calm him down!" she insisted, stepping forward cautiously. "Hulk! Hulk, sweetie, it's me, Illayana. Do you remember me?"

The giant paused for a second, slamming Thor into the ground. He faced her, with a slightly confused look on his face, and started forward. "Remember, I told you stories? About all kinds of things; like dragons and knights, witches and wizards, right? And – and the little girl who was sad, and angry, so she made up her own stories. I told you some of those stories, remember?"

The vividness of his green face paled, his tight, furious expression softening the slightest bit. Illayana approached him, meeting him halfway and making to lay a hand on his giant arm. She knew he wouldn't hurt her. "You told me you liked them, right? Maybe I can tell you some more. But we have to calm down a little, buddy, or Mr. Myth here won't let us."

She could almost see the chocolate return to the Hulk's neon gaze. But it was for naught.

Illayana saw the jet come up behind the Hulk just a second too late. All of a sudden, he was being shot at, the brilliance returning to his emerald skin, the rage returning to his eyes. He turned towards the window, pushing her behind him, and roared once more. Bullets were reflecting off every surface around her, and she feared for her life. _This is it. Why now? Why did they have to bring him into this? Why couldn't they just __**leave him alone**__?_

Thor threw himself across the room, knocking her to the side, shielding her with both himself and the debris around them. The Hulk roared again, and jumped at the plane.

White-hot panic flashed through her. Both the Hulk and the pilot were in danger, the pilot even more so. While she didn't know the pilot and her worry for her friend eclipsed all else at the moment, she didn't want him to die. Not only would a life be needlessly lost, but Bruce would feel terrible. Maybe it was a little selfish to think of it that way, but Bruce was important to her. She was devastated when he left without saying goodbye.

"No!" she screamed as both the Hulk and the plane went spiraling down. She struggled uselessly against Thor's grip. "He was good, I was handling it! Let me go!"

"Do not test me, maid," Thor warned, tightening his hold momentarily. Illayana nearly choked. Obviously this man didn't know his own strength against a mere human. He then let go. "You will stay away from this battle. It is not yours to fight, when you know so little about the art of war."

Thor, god of thunder, then set off to find the battle he cautioned her off of.

Illayana Robinson, professor of mythology and friend to a great man with a terrible condition, then curled up into a ball and cried. "Oh Bruce," she whispered, remembering when times were so much simpler. Before Loki, before SHIELD, even before the Hulk.

"How did it come to this?"


	9. Goodbye, Old Friend

It wasn't until the battle was over and clean-up crews and medical teams were sent throughout the place that Illayana finally rose from her spot amongst the wreckage. She had no injuries to speak of, save a few minor scrapes and the bruises running up and down her legs, and walked right past the meds when they attempted to check her out. She walked and walked until she found herself in one of the only familiar places in the aircraft. The bridge, or, more directly, the raised platform of the control room where the so-called team was gathered.

What was left of them, anyway.

She'd heard that Romanoff was with Barton – who must have been the 'one of our own' that Loki mind-controlled – from tidbits of someone else's conversation. Idly, she wondered what had happened to Thor, while trying to push away the memories of Bruce falling from the sky. Illayana hung back in the doorway, watching the remaining two sit silently, seemingly in deep thought.

_They should be._

Fury stood in front of the table silently, playing with something in his hands, as if pondering exactly what to say. Something was wrong, she realized, something happened that she didn't know about. _What exactly…?_

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket," he started, holding up the object in his hands. A packet of cards was thrown on the table – spattered with blood. "Guess he never did get you to sign them."

She inhaled sharply, tears burning at the corners of her already red, puffy eyes. The brunette agent was the only one to notice, and she made neither sound nor gesture to indicate the other person in the room. _Phil is dead. Phil is dead. _She felt sick.

Phil Coulson was ten years old when he met Illayana Robinson, who was half his age. He was nice to her, unlike some of the other older boys in the neighborhood, and she liked him. Her mother had often asked Phil instead of the older girls to watch Illayana when she went shopping, and came back to find them huddled together, Phil reading to the little girl from his _Captain America _comics.

They hadn't spoken in person since Illayana graduated college and started looking for work as a professor. Illayana hadn't known why, and the greeting cards and occasional letter she got from him never explained, but it was likely because of his work with SHIELD. Phil was dead because of that work, and she hadn't even been able to say goodbye. The last time she'd talked to him, she'd accused him of kidnapping her.

_Phil is dead._

Illayana couldn't even hear the rest of what Fury said. The buzzing in her ears blocked it out. She was numb, and sore, and could only watch, hardly comprehending what she saw. _Phil is dead._

It could have been an eternity later, or it could have been seconds, but she was snapped into awareness as Tony gently, but firmly pushed her out of the way as he walked out of the room without a word. "Well," she heard Fury say with a sigh, "it's an old-fashioned notion." With that, he and the other agent also left the room.

Steve was staring at the Captain America card in his hand. It was stained dark with blood. She choked on a sob. _Phil is dead._

"He really did admire you, ya know," she said softly, stepping forward. All the same, Steve jumped. _Phil is dead. _"Idolized you, really. I teased him about it all the time when he went into high school. I'm Illayana, by the way."

Steve gave a half-hearted nod, and she let out a small, barely there smile. "He used to read me the comics when I was little . . . for him, though, it was different. We all idolize something. Especially as children. But you weren't just an idol, you were his inspiration. You were real. You did what you did because you thought it was your responsibility."

_Phil is dead._

"You're why Phil joined SHIELD. Because he wanted to make a difference. He wanted to make you proud." She walked closer and tapped the card in Steve's hand gently, carefully, as if it might fall apart. "I gave him that card, ya know… It was always his favorite."

_Phil is dead . . . and I didn't get to say goodbye._

_I hope this is okay, Phil. This is my goodbye._


	10. Accidental Eavesdropping

After talking about Phil, Illayana fled the room, unable to hold back her tears. She just ran, going wherever her feet took her, ignoring the confused and commanding shouts directed at her from the agents she passed. What she couldn't ignore, however, was the stray rubble that popped up in her path. Too late, she tried to stop, but the momentum carried her forward, until she tripped and crumpled in a heap against the wall.

Eventually, she stopped shuddering and sobbing. In the distance, she heard voices.

"_Was he married?"_

"_No. There was a, uh, cellist, I think."_

"_He seemed like a good man."_

"_He was an idiot."_

"_Why? For believing?"_

"_For taking on Loki alone—"_

"_He was doing his job."_

A scoff. "_He was out of his league. He should've waited. He should've—"_

"_Sometimes there isn't a way out."_

"_Right."_

"_Is this the first time you lost a soldier?"_

"_We are _not_ soldiers!" _The outburst was short and loud, then hastily covered up with a declaration, "_I'm not marching to Fury's fife."_

"_Neither am I. He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now we've got to put that behind us if we want to find her and get this done. Now, Loki needs a power source. We can put together a list of—"_

"_He made it personal."_

"_That's not the point—"_

"_That's the point. That's _Loki's _point. He hit us all right where we live." _Footsteps. _"Why?"_

"_To tear us apart."_

"_Yeah, divide and conquer is great, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants." _There was a pause, in which the words sunk in like a stone in a river_. "He wants to beat us. He wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience."_

"_Right. I caught his act in Stuttgart."_

"_That's just the previews. _This, _this is opening night, and Loki? He's a full-tail diva. He wants flowers. He wants parades. He wants a monument built in the skies with his name plastered on it—"_

Stop. _"Sonuva bitch."_

More footsteps, then Tony and Steve rushed past her, not even realizing she was there. Her eyes widened. _Sonuva bitch, indeed._

Loki was going to use Stark Tower, smack dab in the middle of New York City, one of the biggest cities in the United States.


	11. Not a Hero

The feeling of uselessness was painfully familiar. She hated it; it reminded her of her father. In fact, she could practically hear his voice sneering at her, _Worthless, stupid. You're nothing but a useless statue, a waste of space. Can't even help the people who need it most._

"Don't think that," said a voice. It was also painfully familiar, but in a different way. It was the voice of her mother.

Illayana closed her eyes briefly, then opened them, thinking she was just in too much pain and exhaustion. But before her was a beautiful woman, with the same facial structure and wavy hair as her own. The woman was colorless and translucent, but unmistakable: it was Illayana's mother.

"Mom?" she said at length. Ingrid Robinson nodded, smiling gently at her grown daughter. "Is this a dream? Or real?"

"Of course it's a dream, dear, by why should that mean it's not real?"

Illayana smiled and shook her head accusingly. It _must_ be her mother. "You stole that from _Harry Potter._"

Ingrid shrugged. "Paraphrased is more like. But there is a reason I'm here, darling. There is a way you can help." She touched the tips of her fingers to Illayana's eyelids and closed them gently. When she opened them again, she and her mother were no longer in the SHIELD aircraft. They were sitting on the roof of the house Illayana grew up in, and above, the stars shone brighter than they ever had.

"How . . . ?" she started, then shook her head. It was pointless anyway. After everything that had happened to her since waking up in that small room, it was hardly a shock.

"I'm sorry, Ana, but I haven't been entirely . . . forthcoming, with you. You see, dear, we come from a long line of sorceresses."

Illayana's eyes bugged out. "What?" she asked, voice strangled.

"There is magic in you," Ingrid explained. "It was bound the day you were born, as mine was, and your grandmother's, and so on. I was meant to help you unlock it at a certain age – but then the accident happened. Since I was an only child, and your grandmother had already passed, there was no one to teach you about our family history or help you unlock your magic."

"Because of the threat to humanity," she continued, "I was allowed to come see you and offer to help unleash it as I should have been able to years ago. However, there is a catch – because your magic was never released at the proper time, the power has built up over the years. If you choose to do this, you will die in a matter of days; perhaps even hours."

Illayana stared openmouthed at her mother. "No," she stuttered. "I'm sure they can handle it. I mean, they're the professionals here, right?" She laughed weakly. _I don't want to die._

She wasn't Phil, she wasn't a hero. She was selfish, and she wanted to _live_, dammit. _Then there's the magic._ After all Loki has done using his own magic, how could she possibly unleash her own? It was a terrifying thought. What if the power consumed her? What if she turned into a monster like him?

And could she really risk his wrath when she was already so frightened by him?

But she felt so _useless_. And they could use all the help they can get, right? And – and what about Bruce? Was she really going to leave him to it without doing everything in her power to contribute when she had finally seen him again? Of course not.

_There's a chance I'll die either way, _she realized. Tony, Steve, Bruce, Thor, and Romanoff (and maybe Barton, but who knew) were all strong, but if they couldn't work together, all was lost, and even if they could there was always the chance—

_If I die, maybe a hundred more could be saved. I have the ability to make a difference in this battle. It's not my choice. I have to do it._

"Okay," she whispered finally.

Ingrid smiled sadly at her only daughter and whispered something under her breath, waving her hand over the young woman's face. She pulled a locket from beneath Illayana's shirt and held it up in the moonlight. It was a gift from her grandmother, one that Illayana had had for as long as she could remember. "I release you," she said to it, and let go.

The chain snapped, and the locket flew into the air. The world seemed to stop, the locket catching the moonlight beautifully, before it fell. As it descended, the image of the locket flickered, and became a staff. Instinctively, Illayana reached out and caught the staff before it could hit the ground.

The staff was a beautiful dark wood with a swirling pattern etched onto it, and a pulsating white light at the top. Illayana traced the pattern lightly, a look of awe in her eyes. Ingrid rested her hand atop her daughter's.

"Good luck, baby," she said, and both she and the surrounding area disappeared.


	12. Becoming a Hero

When Illayana opened her eyes, she was standing exactly where she'd been before, in one of the lower levels of the SHIELD aircraft, except now, she was holding a brilliantly crafted staff. With no idea how to use it.

She groaned, and set off to find one of the team. No one was around, though; she must have been under longer than she thought. How was she supposed to get to New York now? No one was going to give a civilian a lift to a city under attack, magic or no magic.

Illayana stared down at the staff in her hand miserably. _I wish I knew what I'm doing…_

A warm, pleasant tingling sensation started in her fingertips and spread slowly up her arm, filling her entire body. A feeling of peace, of _understanding_, filled her. She lifted the staff above her head and spun it three times, then slammed the end against the ground.

And disappeared from sight.

Just like she had never felt claustrophobic before waking up in that small, small room a day or two ago, Illayana had never been afraid of heights before. But appearing in New York City during an alien invasion on the top of the _freaking Empire State Building_ gave her reason to. She swayed dangerously for a moment before grabbing hold of whatever she could. _What do I do know? _she thought, but the sinking feeling in her gut told her she already knew.

She let go.

Illayana screamed as she fell, terror flashing through her before she was once again filled with the understanding. She splayed her arms and used them to roll herself into a series of flips, which started out fast and slowed as she neared the streets below, already filled with chaos. The last flip was the slowest of all, with the staff arcing underneath her, guiding a gust of wind to help her land on her feet in a crouch.

Obviously, the first thing Illayana noticed was the aliens. They were awful, creatures, wearing masks and armor that looked like the exoskeleton of an insect. Some were flying around on strange hovercraft type things; others were roaming the streets, shooting things with some kind of spear-like weapon. She made a note to be careful of those, they looked pointy.

The second thing she noticed was the amount of people panicking and running around. The police were trying to herd people into the subways, but there were also others trapped in buildings. She needed to draw the aliens, _Chitauri_ she recalled, away from the trapped groups.

The last thing she noticed, and only vaguely, was that she was no longer wearing her clothing from days ago. There was a navy cargo jacket over a white armored shirt, armored black leggings, and dark purple combat boots. She allowed herself a split-second to stare at the staff in disbelief. While it was good that she now had armor, she was sort of confused as to why it had changed her clothes.

She shrugged it off and sprinted forward, towards a group of Chitauri backing terrified civilians into a corner. Slashing the staff at the Chitauri sent of a barrage of energy bolts, not unlike the ones the Chitauri themselves used, only hers were pure white instead of having a bluish glow. When they faced her to return fire, she gestured wildly for the civilians to run away and held her staff vertically to the ground. This created a shield of translucent white energy, which the returning shots bounced off of and back towards the alien creatures.

Slowly, Illayana made her way through Manhattan, heading for the center of the island, where she might be able to find the team – the Avengers, now, she guessed. Tony had mentioned the Avengers Initiative while they were waiting for the trackers to find the Tesseract and JARVIS (Tony's Artificial Intelligence program) to hack into SHIELD's files. While it was scrapped, these people as good as reinstated it. They were becoming a team.

Barton – or who she assumed was Barton – was just saying "Get in line," to Thor when she came up behind them. "Hey guys!" she chirped, panting slightly. She was _not_ used to this much exercise. Her eyes widened when they all turned their weapons on her.

"Wait, wait!" she said hastily, waving her arms. "Obviously not an alien. Illayana, remember? I'm on your side!"

They lowered their weapons, although Barton and Romanoff still looked cautious. "What are you doing here?" Steve asked. "You're a civilian."

"What's that?" Barton questioned suspiciously, pointing at the staff.

"I'm here because I can help, thanks to this," Illayana answered resolutely. "I didn't even know about it until recently, and it won't do what Loki's did to you." She directed the last part at a distrustful Barton.

A motor sounded behind her, and she turned, along with the rest of the team. It was Bruce, on a dirty, wrecked old motorcycle, heading towards them. He climbed off the bike about ten feet away and let it drop to the ground, drawing closer.

"So, this all seems horrible," he said. He gave Illayana a curious look, but she waved him off, mouthing, _Just go with it, I'll explain later._

"I've seen worse," Romanoff said dryly.

"Sorry about that," Bruce apologized, shame-faced.

"No! We could use a little, worse," she assured him, stepping closer.

"Stark, we got Banner," Steve announced, Illayana assumed into a comm. Tony must have said something back, but she didn't ask as Iron Man jetted around the corner of a building, followed by a giant flying whale-like _thing._

" . . . I . . . don't see how that's a party," Romanoff said.

"Ditto," Illayana said, bug-eyed.

"Doctor Banner," Steve called, as Bruce walked toward the oncoming monstrosity. Illayana felt a brief flash of panic, but she knew he would be okay. The Hulk wouldn't let him die. "Now would be a good time for you to get angry."

"That's my secret, Captain," Bruce grinned at him over his shoulder. "I'm always angry."

As he turned, Bruce's skin rapidly expanded and turned bright green, ending in the Hulk punching the . . . _thing _. . . in the nose (did it have a nose?) and crunching the pavement beneath his feet as he was pushed back.

The Avengers assembled in a circle of offensive stances, preparing their weapons. "Call it, Cap," Tony said as they looked up to see even more of the alien space-whales coming through the hole in the sky. Beyond the hole, Illayana could see the vastness of space, full of more stars than she had ever seen, much like when her mother told her about the magic within her. There was a dark spot that must have been the mother-ship.

Her life was getting stranger by the second.

"Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, we've gotta contain this. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash."

Barton turned to Tony. "Wanna give me a lift?"

"Right. Better clench up, Legolas," said Tony, grabbing Barton by the quiver on his back and blasting away.

"Thor, you try and bottleneck the portal, slow them down. You got lightning, light the bastards up," Steve continued.

Thor nodded, swung his hammer, and flew away.

"What about us?" Illayana asked.

"Us three," Steve indicated to all of them, "are on the ground."

Illayana nodded, held her staff aloft, and the battle began.


	13. Closing the Portal

She didn't know how long she'd been fighting, but she'd lost track of Steve and Romanoff a while ago. Whatever she could do, she tried; sneaking up on the Chitauri, blasting them and hitting them, or merely distracting them from the panicked and terrified citizens of New York City stuck in the midst of the fight. Manhattan was a warzone, barely recognizable from what it'd once been, and that made her angry. So many people's lives would be disrupted from this, and who knows how many gone.

The Hulk jumped all over the city, hitting as many of the big flying _things_ as he could. Illayana was dimly aware of where he was at different points, but for the first time in the past few days she was able to push him completely from her mind. She was kind of glad about that.

Romanoff had thrown her an extra earwig after the team first split up, so she could hear a few grunts and the odd command. Eventually, she heard Romanoff. "I can close it!" she shouted. "Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!"

"Do it!" Steve yelled.

"No, wait," Tony said.

"Stark, these things are still coming in!"

"I got a missile coming in . . . and I know just where to put it."

"Stark," Steve said softly, "you know that's a one way trip."

Illayana dashed back to the center of the island, watching as Iron Man caught the missile and directed it up, barely skimming the top of a building, and disappeared into the hole.

Her breathing hitched, and there was a terrible moment of silence. She kept her eyes on the sky as she slashed at the Chitauri again and again. _Does _another_ person have to die to stop a madman?_

There was no noise discernible down on the streets, but all of a sudden a blossom of smoke and flames bloomed from the mother-ship. The Chitauri fell just as suddenly, and it was over.

They waited, but no red-and-gold figure came from the hole in the sky. Illayana lowered her eyes. "Close it," Steve said. The words were heavy, tired.

A second later, the blue light around the edge of the portal started shrinking. There was just a small circle of darkness left when Tony fell through, and then it closed behind him.

"Son of a gun," Steve smiled incredulously. Illayana's head popped up, and she cheered, seeing Tony back in the atmosphere. He kept falling, though.

"He's not slowing down," Thor warned, beginning to swing his hammer.

But loud footsteps interrupted him, and a large viridian being snatched Iron Man out of the air, landing against a building and sliding down. The Hulk laid Tony on the ground, and he was still.

Steve was barking orders, and they took off Tony's helmet, but he wasn't breathing, and the arc reactor was dim. They stared at him sadly, but the Hulk huffed and roared loudly in the billionaire's face.

Tony's eyes snapped open, and he looked around wildly. "What happened?" he asked, wide-eyed. "Please tell me nobody kissed me."

Illayana snickered, coming closer and patting the Hulk on his bright green forearm (because that was what she could reach), while Steve smiled and shook his head.

"We won," he said wonderingly.

"Alright," Tony said breathlessly, lifting his head a little. "Hey! Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow, let's just take a day. Have you ever had shawarma? I don't know what it is, but I saw a place over that way."

"We have something to finish, first," Steve said, looking toward Stark Tower, which now only had the A.

"Then shawarma after?"


	14. Shawarma

When Loki finally managed to get up from where the Hulk smashed him into Tony's floor, he was in for a big surprise. Gathered in front of him were the Avengers; the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Illayana (who didn't have a superhero name, and wondered if she should bother to make one up before she inevitably died), and Hawkeye, who had an arrow nocked and pointed smack dab between Loki's eyes.

"If it's all the same to you," Loki said slowly, "I'll have that drink now."

Illayana smirked.

Once Loki was in proper custody and Bruce had shrunken down to his normal size, Tony dragged them all to the shawarma place he had mentioned, regardless of how dirty and sweaty they were. It took forever for the rest of them to order, seeing as none of them knew exactly _what_ shawarma was, and Illayana felt guilty as the workers did their best to start cleaning up. Should she help them?

"I'll just have a diet Pepsi," she said faintly when she realized they were all waiting on her.

They sat down at the only table still standing, arranging themselves tiredly. Nobody spoke until long after they had gotten their food, and the first thing they did was make her explain the staff.

The staff itself was lying in her lap, and every time she shifted the end would poke Bruce's leg or the top would wobble dangerously close to Barton, who glowered at it. Even if it wasn't _Loki's_ staff, and it didn't have the same powers, the memories of what happened and what he did while under Loki's spell made him distrustful.

When Illayana stood to get herself a refill of her Pepsi, she swayed, and had to steady herself on her chair. Bruce looked up at her with concern. "Hey, guys?" she said weakly. "I've kinda been running on adrenaline and recently magic for the past twenty-four hours or so, so I think I'm gonna collapse now."

She did.


	15. Needed

Someone was stroking her hair. And it felt really good, she decided, snuggling into the hand. There was a tinkling laugh, and Illayana smiled, then blinked. Ingrid was smiling down at her. Her heart sank.

She was dead. She must be.

"Mom?" she asked in a small voice, sitting up. "Am I dead?"

Ingrid shook her head, smiling widely. "No, darling. You're not."

"Why not?"

"Modern technology is a marvel, isn't it?" Ingrid grinned. "You did die, Ana. Your heart stopped. But they brought you back. You still have a life to live, baby; you're needed."

"Needed? Why?" she questioned, scooting closer to her mother.

"Don't you think your friends need you? Bruce especially?"

"I don't know, Mom, it doesn't always seem like it . . . "

Ingrid took her daughter's chin by the hand and forced her to look into her eyes. "They'll always need you. That's what it means to be friends," she insisted softly.

"I miss you," Illayana said, sniffling.

"I know you do, baby," Ingrid cooed, gathering her daughter close. It was like when Illayana was little, and she would go to her mother for protection against the monsters in her closet. "But I'll always be right here." She tapped Illayana's heart.

Illayana snorted, trying to cover her tears. "Cliché," she muttered.

"But true," her mother agreed.

"I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, Illayana. Remember what I said," Ingrid told her, eyes sparkling with tears. She kissed her daughter on the forehead and vanished. Illayana shed one last tear, and woke up.

"Illayana, thank god," Bruce muttered when her eyes fluttered open and stared up at him. He hugged her gently, trying not to jostle her too much.

"Ana!" Tony cried overdramatically. "We thought you were dead! But they brought you back with those electric thingies!"

"Defibrillators," Bruce corrected needlessly. Tony was Tony, of course he knew what they were called. Most likely, he just liked calling them _electric thingies. _Illayana rolled her eyes affectionately.

"Whatever," Tony said, waving his hand. "The good news is, you're back!"

"Yeah," Illayana murmured, smiling slightly. "I'm back."


	16. Epilogue

The bad news was, her magic was gone.

The staff was still powerful, but any magic she had inside of her had fled when her heart shut down. Illayana had discovered her grandmother's diary in a trunk of her mother's old things, and learned a little about her powers. It didn't all apply to her, now that her innate magic was gone, and not all the proper information was there, but it was nice. Like always, Illayana like _knowing_ things about herself.

All the Avengers (of which Illayana may or may not be one; she didn't know if she would want to do that again, and she didn't yet know the price of using the staff without her own magic) were gathered in Central Park to see off Thor, who was taking both his brother and the Tesseract back to Asgard. Everyone smiled and shook hands and said farewell.

Loki and Thor disappeared with a flash, and then Barton and Romanoff (who she discovered were Clint and Natasha) drove off in their car, and Steve on a motorcycle. Tony swaggered over to where Illayana stood wearing sunglasses and a smirk.

"You wanna come too? You may not be science-y like us, but you're a pretty little lab assistant," he offered, winking. "And I'm sure Bruce wouldn't mind."

"I should probably, uh," she stammered, scratching the back of her head, "get back to work. Classes, ya know?" She laughed nervously, glancing over at Bruce.

"Don't go," Bruce blurted, then blushed and stuttered, "I-I mean, Tony said you're welcome, and it'd be nice to catch up…"

"Okay," she whispered, ducking her head. _I do have a ton of sick days piled up. _"I guess I could use a vacation anyway, after all this."

"Great!" Tony clapped his hands. "Now that we're done being awkward teenagers, let's go!"

Illayana glowered at him briefly, slapping his shoulder. It was a good thing Tony's sports car was roomy, because there were only two seats and having to sit on Bruce's lap would make things a hundred times more awkward and Tony only more satisfied with his description of them. As it was, they had to share, and were squished together pretty tightly.

But all the same, she was happy. She made new friends, was reunited with an old one (who she _still _had a major crush on), and got a vacation out of it.

Bruce and Illayana smiled at each other as they drove away


End file.
